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Ineffective delivery of basic human resource services

Experimental visualization of narrower problems

Other Names:

Limited access to available servicesLimited distribution of basic servicesUnequal distribution of public servicesInaccessibility of bureaucratic servicesRestricted social servicesLimited access to social benefitsInaccessible social services

Nature:

While present day expectations are for everyone to receive the services they require, some small communities are finding that although such services are theoretically available, they are not always available in practice. In addition, residents encounter difficulties when trying to find the proper office among numerous bureaux for receiving assistance, so that they are reluctant to seek services which are available. The remoteness of central bureaucracy may prevent agencies from being aware of the needs of local communities. Bureaucratic channels for obtaining the information, funding and social services which are intended to be of service to the community are often inaccessible to the inexperienced; and attempts at local improvements and programmes may be complicated by apparently inflexible regulations, such as building codes, environmental rulings and programme qualifications criteria. In addition, people are suspicious of and reluctant to deal with government, thus hindering further their ability to tap available government funds. As a result, some designated funds remain unused. Access to financial and commercial services may be difficult if the community is regarded as a bad investment risk. All of these factors lead to a dependence on outside services and a lack of initiative in claiming the benefits to which a community is entitled.

Claim:

Corporate community action is necessary to assure the supply of critical basic services, or residents will continue to be prevented from participating in economic and social development.

About the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a collaboration between UIA and Mankind 2000, started in 1972. It is the result of an ambitious effort to collect and present information on the problems with which humanity is confronted, as well as the challenges such problems pose to concept formation, values and development strategies. Problems included are those identified in international periodicals but especially in the documents of some 60,000 international non-profit organizations, profiled in the Yearbook of International Organizations.

The Encyclopedia includes problems which such groups choose to perceive and act upon, whether or not their existence is denied by others claiming greater expertise. Indeed such claims and counter-claims figure in many of the problem descriptions in order to reflect the often paralyzing dynamics of international debate. In the light of the interdependence demonstrated among world problems in every sector, emphasis is placed on the need for approaches which are sufficiently complex to encompass the factions, conflicts and rival worldviews that undermine collective initiative towards a promising future.

Non-profit, apolitical, independent, and non-governmental in nature, the UIA has been a pioneer in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907.